WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has cryptically uploaded a picture of himself dressed in the national colors of Ecuador. The country’s media reports the whistleblower has been granted an Ecuadorian passport.
Assange has been holed up in the tiny Ecuadorian embassy in London’s Knightsbridge since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over assault charges, which he has denied. The investigation into the WikiLeaks founder was dropped last year.
While Sweden has at least temporarily dropped that investigation, British officials say they’d still arrest him on charges of breaching bail conditions. Assange also fears a possible U.S. extradition request stemming from the leaking of classified U.S. documents.
— Julian Assange ⌛ (@JulianAssange) January 10, 2018
Earlier in the day, Ecuador’s foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said at a news conference that the country is seeking possible mediation to resolve the Assange case. She noted that notable asylum cases in recent years have sometimes required mediation by a third country.
Espinosa says her country is seeking solutions, saying the situation “is not sustainable.”
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